Doll torso with flexibly joined limbs



June 11, 1963 w. RESINOL DOLL TORSO WITH FLEXIBLY JOINED LIMBS Filed March 15, 1962 INVENTOR. W////am Resmo/ United States Patent 3,092,930 lJQLL TORSO WITH FLEXIBLY J OINED LIMBS William Resinol, 277 Bronx River Road, Yonkers, N.Y. Filed Mar. 15, 19132, Ser. No. 179,979 2 Claims. (Cl. 46-461) The present invention relates to a doll, and more particularly to a doll of the type in which the limbs are flexibly connected to the torso and is generally referred to as a fiappy doll.

Heretofore, flappy dolls, were generally also known as rag dolls, in which the skin of the doll, including the torso, arms and legs, were formed of a textile fabric and were stuffed with pieces of fabric or with cotton batting, or the like, with legs and arms being defined from the torso by lines of stitching. Some of these prior art dolls had the head, hands and feet formed from the same fabric skin as the remainder of the body with the facial features of the head painted on. Others have had plastic heads, hands and feet secured at the neck and at the ends of the arms and legs of the doll.

Such flappy dolls of the prior art besides having unrealistic appearance with respect to color and shape, required a great deal of manual labor to produce them. Further, they quickly became soiled and unsightly and were diificult to keep clean and sanitary.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a doll of the type in which the limbs are flexibly connected to a torso, which have substantially a realistic appearance both as to body color and body shape as do the conventionally, highly advanced, molded dolls now made available to children.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a happy doll of the character described which requires a minimum of hand labor for its production and assembly and may, therefore, be mass-produced at relatively low cost.

it is a further object of the present invention to provide dolls of the character described which may be easily and readily maintained in a clean and sanitary condition.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the doll of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawings and from the description following. It is to be understood, however, that such embodiment is shown by way of illustration only, to make the principles and practice of the invention more readily comprehensible, and without any intent of limiting the invention to the specific details therein shown.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view, partly broken away, of one embodiment of a doll of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the doll, taken on the plane of line 22 of FIG. 1 with the arm removed and showing one arm receiving opening;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary View of the bottom of the torso of the doll showing the leg receiving opening provided therein;

FIG. 4 is a perspective exploded View of one of the limbs of the doll, shown as the leg thereof, with the retaining element or bar therefor;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary enlarged view of the upper portion of :a limb such as shown in FIG. 4 with a retaining element secured in place thereon; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view of the interior of the torso showing a limb retained in place therein.

Generally stated, the present invention provides a doll whose limbs and also its torso, are formed of a soft, pliable vinyl or similar thermo-plastic which is available for commercial moulding, and utilizes a moulded 3,092,930 Patented June 11, 1963 "ice torso with elongated slotted limb attaching Opening and hollow moulded limbs, including fully formed integral hands and feet, whose circular torso engaging end is open and is flattened against a retaining stay element which projects to each side of the flattened limb end and whose projecting ends are inserted through the slotted limb receiving opening and engaged against the marginal edge portions of the ends of such slots.

More specifically stated, the doll comprises a hollow, moulded torso generally designated as 10, having a front, 12, a back, 13, sides, 14, and a bottom, .16. The torso may preferably be relatively thin walled and moulded, by any of the known conventionally used moulded methods, of a thermo-plastic material such as a vinyl composition or other suitable plastic used in doll moulding that sets into a soft pliable, resilient layer or skin.

The torso 10 is provided at the upper end of each of its side walls with a longitudinally extending, arm receiving slotted opening, 18, of a width to accommodate snugly a double thickness of doll body wall, as will be hereinafter made clear. The torso 10 is also formed with elongated aligned spaced laterally or transversely extending leg receiving openings 29 in its bottom, 16. These openings, 20, likewise comprise relatively narrow slots adapted to snugly accommodate a double thickness of doll skin.

The doll limbs consisting of arms 21 and legs 22 and fully illustrated in the drawings, in the representation of zone of the legs 22, are hollow and likewise are similarly each moulded of a synthetic thermo-plastic material, that sets into a soft and resiliently pliable skin. The limbs are each formed with an open torso engaging end, 24, of substantially circular cross section, in the edge of which are formed diametrically opposed notches 26, into which is inserted a preferably flat relatively narrow bar 28, against which the edge portions of the openings, 24, to each side of the notches, 26, are flattened and secured in flattened state as by a staple, 30. The bars 28 are each of greater length than the length of the flattened limb opening 24 and project to each side of the flattened limb end. The limb receiving slots 18 and 29, may be of a length not less than the width of the flattened limb end it is to receive and less than the length of its bar 28.

It will be apparent that the limbs 21 and 22 may be easily and readily assembled with the torso, 10, taking advantage of the generally inherent character of the thermo-pl-astic material of which the torso is formed, especially when slightly warmed, by inserting the flattened end of the limb and the bar secured thereto through the slots, 18 or 20, as the case may be, and latching the projecting ends of the bar 28 over the marginal edge portions of the slots 18 or 20. While the bars 28 may be formed of any suitable rigid material such as a rigid plastic material, it is preferable for easy assembly to make them of a flexibly rigid plastic material to facilitate insertion through a slot and the assembly of the doll.

While the limb receiving slots 18 and 20 may be respectively formed in any desired position, on sides 14 and bottom 16 of the torso 10, it may be desirable to form rounded corners between the front 12 and the sides and bottom 14 and 16 of the torso and to form the openings 18 and 20 on such rounded corners, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings. In the case of the legs, especially, this is desirable to make feasible the seating of the doll, as indicated in broken line-s in FIG. 2 of the drawings.

This completes the description of the Happy doll of the present invention. It will be readily apparent that be cause of the resilient character of the moulded skin of the doll of the present invention, that the doll body, although compressible, will retain the natural shape in which it is moulded and that the doll limbs because of their flat shape at the, point of connection to the torso, will be flappable, and readily bent along their line of connection either diorwardly or rearwardly of the torso, as readily as the limbs of a fabric skin stuffed doll.

It will also be apparent that the doll of the present invention, in addition to being capable of formation in a natural or realistic shape, is also adaptable to be formed in naturalskin color, to provide a doll of maximum realistic appearance.

It will be additionally apparent that the (1011 of the present invention may have its few moulded parts mechanically mass produced and assembled with a minimum of manual labor to thereby enable their production at relatively low cost.

It will be further apparent that numerous modifications and variations may be made in the dolls of the present invention by anyone skilled in the art, in according with the principles of the invention hereinafter set forth and without the exercise, of any inventive ingenuity. I desire, therefore, to be protected for any and all such modifications andvariations that may be made within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims hereto appended.

What I claim is:

1. In a doll, a hollow torso including a front -"sides, a back, and a bottom, said torso having limb-receiving openings formed therein, each said limb-receiving opening comprising an elongated, narrow slot, a limb secured on said torso through each of said openings, each said limb comprising a hollow, molded body formed of resiliently pliable material adapted to retain its shape, each said limb having its end portion attachable to said torso of substantial circular cross-section, said end portion having inwardly extending indentions provided at substantially diametrically opposed points in its marginal edge portion, forming projections between them, said projection flattened against opposed faces of an elongated stay and secured thereto in' flattened position, said flattened edge portionof said limb being of lesser length than the length of the receiving slot therefor, andsaid stay being of greater length than said slot and projecting to each side of said flattened limb-edge portion, said flattened edge portion and said stay inserted through said slot into said torso with said projecting end portions of said stay engaging over the marginal edge. portions of the ends of said slot.

2. The doll of claim 1, wherein said limb-receiving openings include an arm-receiving opening in each side of said torso, extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the torso, and spaced, alined leg-receiving openings at the bottom of the torso extending transversely of the longitudinal axis thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 575,749 Wilmer Jan. 26, 1897 2,203,128 Cairo June 4, @1940 2,865,134 Cohn Dec. 23, 1958 

1. IN A DOLL, A HOLLOW TORSO INCLUDING A FRONT, SIDES, A BACK, AND A BOTTOM, SAID TORSO HAVING LIMB-RECEIVING OPENINGS FORMED THEREIN, EACH SAID LIMB-RECEIVING OPENING COMPRISING AN ELONGATED, NARROW SLOT, A LIMB SECURED ON SAID TORSO THROUGH EACH OF SAID OPENINGS, EACH SAID LIMB COMPRISING A HOLLOW, MOLDED BODY FORMED OF RESILIENTLY PLIABLE MATERIAL ADAPTED TO RETAIN ITS SHAPE, EACH SAID LIMB HAVING ITS END PORTION ATTACHABLE TO SAID TORSO OF SUBSTANTIAL CIRCULAR CROSS-SECTION, SAID END PORTION HAVING INWARDLY EXTENDING INDENTIONS PROVIDED AT SUBSTANTIALLY DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED POINTS IN ITS MARGINAL EDGE PORTION, 